Meeting the Dads 14: Ethan Rayne
by mmooch
Summary: **Part of 'Who's Your Baby's Daddy' series.** "For all that is good and holy, please, goddess, don't let him be the dad!"


**Meeting the Dads: Ethan Rayne**

Summary: "For all that is good and holy, please, goddess, don't let _him_ be the dad!!!" Part of 'Who's Your Baby's Daddy?' series.

A/N: In response to Challenge 3064: conception by conspiracy *non-stargate* by shelli.

A/N2: Thanks to my betas: zigpal and JediKnight.

Warning: Non-fuzzy type feelings for Maggie, Riley and the Initiative…duh!!

Rating: FR15 for language and talk of sex, of course, she's _pregnant_ after all.

Pairing: Basically a Buffy/Giles _friendship_. Anything else is up to you, the reviewers – within reason of course.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

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**Nevada Detention Facility**

Giles had to grip Buffy's arm tightly to keep her from backing away from the private visitation room where Ethan was waiting for them. It wasn't as if _he_ was any more interested in seeing that man either, but they needed to get this over with, and he was the last name on the list. With a sharp release of breath, he gripped the door handle and turned.

The smirk on Ethan's face was almost overshadowed by his look of surprise at seeing them. But clearly, he knew something was going on. In a sudden burst of realization, Ripper lunged at him. "You knew, you bastard, didn't you?" he shouted, reaching to strangle Ethan – only to be pulled back by his startled Slayer.

"What's going on, Giles?" she asked him with bewildered concern.

Feeling safer now that Ripper was held by Buffy, Ethan decided to press his luck. "Your Watcher seems to think that I had something to do with your current condition."

Giles growled, "So help me, if you helped that woman, I will tear you apart with my bare hands!"

"Giles, you need to calm down. The nice guards here might think _you_ need to be taken into custody, and I don't want to lose you," Buffy reminded him of their surroundings.

Ethan watched them with amusement before remarking, "How touching. I wonder if this is what that crazy bint had in mind when she concocted this scheme."

"What do you mean?" Giles demanded, still fighting the urge to kill his ex-friend. Even when Ethan had turn him into a demon, he hadn't been this livid.

Reconsidering his original thought, Ethan shook his head, "No…_she_ wanted the child, not the chance to study the change in the Watcher/Slayer dynamic. My guess is that something has happened to her and you are trying to figure out what she did."

Buffy was rapidly losing her patience with this man's games. "Okay, Ethan, I get that you like playing the part of…whatever it is you think you are, but you'd better start making sense fast or I will let Ripper take your head off and help him claim self defense to the officials. I doubt that anyone would miss you too badly. And if you think that the cameras would show the truth, you should know that they've been turned off – both physically and magically," she explained with an evil smile.

Ethan sobered up immediately at the news. "Fine. Ruin my fun. Just after I was grabbed, the leader of that group came to me with an offer. In exchange for my 'cooperation' with her little science experiment, she would see to it that I was released."

In spite of the fact that he was sickened by the arrangement, Giles couldn't help but wonder, "So what are you still doing here?"

"Turns out that I was unable to help her – at least in the way she preferred," Ethan added hastily.

Figuring out what he meant, Buffy started snickering. "Are you telling us that your equipment doesn't work?"

Fully offended, Ethan quickly defended his masculinity, "My _equipment_ works just fine! It's my swimmers that don't. Apparently, I had a rather bad fever before we met that made me sterile. Wish I had known that years ago; coulda saved a fortune on condoms."

Giles shuddered at the thought of this conversation going any further. "Setting aside your deplorable habits – which neither of us are interested in – what did you mean when you said that you helped her in a different way?"

"Seems that she was ordered to have a mystical participant in her breeding program. When she discovered that I couldn't be it, she asked if I knew of any other people she could contact," he replied with his own evil grin.

Not liking that look one bit, Giles demanded, "What did you tell her?"

With an air of satisfaction, Ethan answered casually, "Of course I told her of my dear mate, Rupert Giles – who just happened to be in her own backyard. And if for some reason, _he_ didn't work out, there was always another Watcher nearby. Someone by the name of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce."

"I didn't know Wesley did magick," Giles commented absently. It might have been useful if they had known that before.

Ethan shrugged, "I don't know if he does either, but I told her of a spell to check if he had any ability."

Trying to wrap his mind around this change, Giles attempted to clarify, "So you're saying that she used me or Wesley for this instead of you?"

"I have no clue if she listened to me or not. The bint had no imagination for the mystical. She kept referring to it as superstition. How she ever got to be in charge of a group studying demons, I'll never know. So I take it that I was right about something happening to her?" Ethan inquired, almost hoping that something horrible had – seeing as how she had left him to rot here.

Giles responded without the slightest bit of concern, "Yes, one of her 'superstitions' skewered her. But not until after she forced this pregnancy on Buffy."

Ethan raised an eyebrow at that. "So you haven't had an abortion then? I'm surprised," he remarked, although not meaning it very much. After all, they wouldn't be here if that were the case.

Narrowing her eyes at the man who had caused her and her friends so much pain, Buffy ground out, "Then obviously you don't know that much about the Slayer or me. As the Slayer, I'm sworn to protect _all_ human life. Even the less desirable specimens," she remarked pointedly.

"And as Buffy?" he asked.

"I've accepted that this might be my only chance for a child. And despite how it came about, or who _some_ of the candidates were, I want this. My only hope is that I'll get to see part of his or her life before I die," she answered honestly.

Giles squeezed her hand with his before saying, "You will if I have anything to say about it, dear girl."

Shrugging off her morbid thoughts, Buffy looked back at the sorcerer. "Anyway, I want to thank you, Ethan."

Now he was honestly shocked. "Me? For what?"

As was Giles. "Yes. What do you what to thank _him_ for?"

Buffy turned to Giles with a smile as she explained, "He just told me that one of my biggest fears can't come true. I may not have thought that much of Wesley back in Sunnydale, but even he wasn't as bad as the thought of having _Ethan's_ child," she finished with a shudder.

"I'm hurt," Ethan said with a pout.

Giles growled, tired of this man's interruptions, "You will be if you don't keep your mouth shut."

"And you…well, I couldn't imagine a better choice for fathers, Giles," Buffy went on like Ethan hadn't spoken.

Ethan rolled his eyes at the sentimental crap. "Oh please, all this mush is making me sick."

"I've had just about enough of you," Giles spat as he threw a shimmering powder over Ethan's head.

Realizing that he couldn't move, Ethan started to panic. "What did you do to me?" he pleaded.

Letting loose of Ripper a bit, Giles answered, "Just paralyzed you while I take care of a little business that I wasn't able to the _last_ time we met." Then he proceeded with the binding ritual he had prepared expressly for this visit.

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Walking out, Buffy turned to Giles and asked, "Will that stop him?"

Giles shrugged, "Probably not, but it should make it more difficult for him until he gets out of prison."

"Thank goodness. I just hope they keep him locked up for a very long time," she said.

"Indeed." He looked at her intently. "So you really aren't bothered by the idea that Wesley or I could be the father?"

Buffy looked upset that he didn't believe her before. "Of course not! I meant it when I said that you are one of the best men I know. And maybe if Wesley was still 'Wes the Wuss', it might bug me a little. But he grew up a lot since leaving Sunnydale. I don't think you would have recognized him the last time I saw him in LA; I almost didn't."

"Should we go visit him then?" Giles suggested.

"Umm, I don't think so. At least not until we know that he's the father." When he looked questioningly at her, she explained, "I've been trying to avoid Angel's calls and if he's bothered by things now, just imagine what he'd be like when he finds _this_ out."

Nodding his agreement, Giles had to put forth something that he had considered inside, "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but we can't rule Ethan out either as a possibility. The man lies as easily has he breathes."

"Is that why you took a lock of his hair?" she asked.

"Partly. But it will also serve as a more potent binding spell later, if necessary," he answered truthfully.

Taking a deep breath, Buffy calmed her warring emotions. Getting upset wouldn't help her anyway. "Thanks for the warning. I suppose we'd better get home and do that 'superstitious nonsense' to find out the baby's daddy. Will it bother you if it's you?"

Now it was Giles' turn to be offended. "Not one bit! I would be honored to be the father. I just would want the circumstances to be different," he said without thinking.

Knowing how he meant it, but feeling the need to tease him anyway, Buffy smirked and asked innocently, "You mean you want to be the father of my children the old-fashioned way?"

Giles started stammering and sputtering, then systematically wiped his glasses to the point that Buffy was sure he'd go right through the lens.

Unable to control her laughter anymore, Buffy managed to gasp out an apology, "I'm sorry. I just couldn't help teasing you a bit. Let's go home, Watcher-mine."

Realizing that she hadn't meant anything by it, Giles responded in kind, "You incorrigible brat, I'll figure out a way to make you pay for that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she answered flippantly over her shoulder as she got into the rental car.

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A/N: Alright folks. That's the end. Now we head into the voting phase. Just a reminder for you as to who the fathers are, in alphabetical order:

Adrian Monk – Monk

Bobby Goren – Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Ethan Rayne – Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (slight possibility)

Fox Mulder – X-Files

Gregory House – House, M.D.

Hannibal Lecter – Silence of the Lambs

Horatio Caine – CSI: Miami

James Wilson – House, M.D.

Jethro Gibbs – NCIS

John Munch – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Johnny Smith – The Dead Zone

Leo Wyatt – Charmed

Luke Danes – Gilmore Girls

Nathan Stark – Eureka

Rupert Giles – Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

Seeley Booth – Bones

Timothy McGee – NCIS

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce – Buffy, the Vampire Slayer _and_ Angel: the Series

Be sure to review in the original story _'Who's Your Baby's Daddy?'_ with your top three choices, in order of who you want the most. I'll see what I can do about a story from the winner. It will at least be a oneshot announcing the who it is. There will be one month from the date that this piece was posted before the voting ceases.

There is also a poll on my author page if you don't care about the order of your choices.

During that time, I will be combining all the dads into the original story in order of their appearance, not when they were posted. There might be slight alterations to the chapters to fix any continuity problems. And I may add some appearances of Mulder along the way – like I originally intended to. But I will leave the original stories as separate pieces so that they are shown in their categories.


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